The Vodacom Gold Reef City Race for Victory Classic over 114km proved to be one of the toughest races so far this year, but this failed to scare the crowds away, as more than 3100 cyclist participated in this year’s event.
The Elite Ladies race showcased the top ladies and ladies teams in the country, and as expected, the race started at a fast pace with Robyn de Groot (Proline Computers) and Luzanne Naude (CBIST) breaking away from the main bunch five kilometres into the race.
They quickly build up a time gap of 50 seconds, but team Konica Minolta and Cyclelab reacted to this attack, and sent their top canons Lynette Burger, Cherise Taylor and Yolandi du Toit to close the gap, and they duly rejoined the breakaway group at the 17 kilometre mark.
Engela Conradie (Proline Computers) was unfortunate to go down hard on a sharp left-turn thirty kilometres into the race, but the reset of the bunch rode on to enter the nature reserve fourty-four kilometres into the race, with all of the main contenders keeping a close eye on each other.
The first serious attack was launched at the foot of the notorious 10km climb in the reserve, when Marissa van der Merwe (Proline Computers) tried go get away with Cherise Taylor (Konica Minolta) following her.
Anriette Schoeman (Proline Computers) reacted immediately, and was followed by team-mate Robyn de Groot. Midway up the climb Yolandi du Toit was left behind as Marissa van der Merwe, Anriette Schoeman and Robyn de Groot went first over the Suikerbossie Climb at the fifty-seven kilometre mark, followed closely by Lynette Burger, Cherise Taylor with Yolandi du Toit in the sixth position.
Sixty-three kilometres into the race it was clear that the rest of the ladies bunch was not going to get back to main group, who had opened a 4-minute 30-sec time gap on them.
Despite an average speed of 35.2km/h for the leading group, Yolandi du Toit managed to get back to the bunch sixty-seven kilometres into the race, but the break-away group stayed together to the finish.
Yolandi du Toit started the sprint with 300m to go, and was immediately followed by de Groot and Schoeman, and then Schoeman launched her sprint finish with 150m to go, and managed to get to the front to finish first, with Burger right behind her, with all five leading ladies finishing within a second of each other.
Elite Women’s Results in the 114km Vodacom Race for Victory Classic, in Johannesburg on Sunday, 14 October, 2007:
1. Anriette Schoeman 03.19.00
2. Lynette Burger 03.19.00
3. Marissa van der Merwe 03.19.00
4. Cherise Taylor 03.19.00
5. Robyn de Groot 03.19.00
6. Yolandi du Toit 03.19.01
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